Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles provided by your friends in Employee Health Services. Their wish for you and your loved ones is for you to enjoy a happy and healthy holiday! Watch for weekly articles in Compass on how to take care of yourself and make the most of this wonderful time!
We’ve all heard the statistic that the “average American” gains more than five pounds over the holidays and more than 75 percent of us estimate that we gain a pound or more up to eight pounds (see chart above).
Fortunately, that is untrue; In a study of nearly 200 men and women, the average actual weight gain between mid-November and mid-January turned out to be just under one pound, and fewer than 20 study participants gained five pounds or more, Of greater concern is that in many cases, accumulated “holiday pounds” are not shed once the December calendar page has given way to January, resulting in a steady weight increase over the years.
In any case, if you look forward to all the holiday goodies but dread their impact on your waistline, Mary King, RD, CDE, director of Nutrition Services at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, offers these tips for minimizing holiday weight gain:
- Don’t starve yourself all day before a late holiday meal — every time you go without eating for longer than three to four hours, your body reacts as if a famine has set in and slows your metabolism way down. Then if you eat a huge meal, your body will store the calories as fat instead of burning them off for energy. If you eat small amounts often, your body will speed up your metabolism and burn the calories instead of storing them as fat. And, because you won’t be famished when it’s time to eat, you will be less likely to overeat.
- Be careful about the calories in beverages. Try to avoid regular soda, large quantities of fruit juice, and high calorie drinks such as high-fat eggnog, ice cream drinks and alcoholic drinks. Satisfy your thirst with water, flavored (calorie-free) water, diet drinks, etc. If you want to have an alcoholic beverage, try a six-ounce serving of a dry white or red wine.
- During holiday meals, watch your portion size — for meat, poultry, fish, etc., the correct portion is about the size of a deck of cards; for potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, yams etc., the serving size should be about ½ cup. You don’t have to measure certain non-starchy vegetables, such as green beans, carrots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, etc (as long as they are not prepared with a cheese sauce or lots of butter). Go ahead and indulge in these veggies. Plus they are high antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fiber!
- Remember to get some type of exercise during the holidays. Just 20-30 minutes of brisk walking, bike riding, swimming, etc., daily can help burn off extra calories. Exercise also speeds up your metabolism so you burn calories faster, too.